Tuesday, October 9, 2012

No Country Bumpkin! Bumpy Pumpkin!

I was outside my Trader Joe's store the other day, and there were pumpkin bins outside - no surprise at this time of the year. I walked past a huge box of pumpkins, and realized they were all astounding - wrinkly skins and bumps, or thorn-like brown scales, all incredibly complex. This particular pumpkin was shining its yellow face toward me as I walked by. It stopped me in my tracks.

Not being the rural agricultural type (e.g. not a country bumpkin, no offense intended), I couldn't figure out what variety this is. (And Internet searching on "bumpy pumpkins" is not revealing any answers.) Does anyone know? It might be a gourd. All I knew is that TJ was asking just $5.99 for the whole glorious thing! I took it home and put it smack in the middle of my kitchen table. (Next to our towering pile of unread newspapers.)

I just love the way the yellow and green fades to orange. This view above, I suspect, is upside down. Here's what he looks like flipped the other way:

(Both sides unaccountably have a small stalk). The yellow splotch is probably its tush, rather than its face.

Why do these colors make me so happy?

And why is it that I used to hate orange, before I loved it?

Orange used to bummed me out. But the more I quilted, the more I began to like, and then LOVE the color orange! Just recently, I've been adding large doses to my quilts, like this one (which you saw in an earlier post):

I have several wonderful pieces of batik/hand dyed orange. Here's one spectacular piece that I'm having a hard time cutting up. I think it stands by itself as a work of art. I should just frame it.

The winner of the recent AQS Des Moines quilt show is a totally incredible orange and blue quilt by Marilyn Badger called Eureka:

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About Me

I was born with a desperate need to make stuff. I mostly make quilts, but I'll make almost anything with my hands (handbags, ATC's, fiber art postcards,crafts of any kind, except possibly beer can crochet.) This is a blog about my quilts and other compulsions. There's Judaic work as well as 'non-denominational. Professionally, I'm a writer, editor, and designer. I'm also the mother of two teens. Much of my earlier Judaic work,and patterns for sale, are at my website, http://www.judaiquilt.com. Email me at cathy(dot)perlmutter(at)gmail(dot)com.